Friday was a day around the Bagan Clinic, although I did travel as far as Nyaung Oo Airport by car.
I was out and about the clinic about 7.00 a.m., taking photographs. The Clinic staff provided me with a fried egg, congee and a can of Coca Cola in the Staff area of the original clinic building while the satellite television was showing “Nim’s Island”. The sound was turned down and the subtitles were in Myanmar language but I was surprised to find the plot was fairly obvious, although I’d never seen the film. However, to protect cultural sensibilities, from time-to-time a small area of the screen would be deliberately ‘de-focussed’. On various programmes, I found this technique applied to smoking, drinking alcohol and too much female cleavage. Confusingly, on other channels, extreme violence, lesbianism and three-in-a-bed activities seemed acceptable (even at eight in the morning).
Doctor Hla Tun took his breakfast and started his ‘list’ by treating a number of monks. Doctor Hla Tun’s mother also had her breakfast, prior to flying back to Yangon. Hla Win Ko interrupted his work in the Dispensary to drive her to Nyaung Oo Airport and I went with them. We stopped near the airport so that she could buy some mangoes from a roadside vendor.
Buying mangoes at a roadside vendor in Nyaung Oo, en route to the airport.
This (plus various prior purchases) made her baggage overweight and at first I feared that the stern-faced man in charge of KBZ Airline check-in was going to levy an excess charge. But eventually it was all smiles, the pieces were labelled ‘Fragile’ and passed through.
Check-in at Nyaung Oo.
Hla Win Ko had another task before we returned to the Clinic. Medications are often shipped using an 'express parcel' service and he intended to collect two parcels of medication expected for Bagan Medical Clinic from a Freight Forwarder in Nyaung Oo. The parcels depot was a dusty, fenced yard with a couple of large trees, around which a number of cartons were arranged. A man relaxed under one tree with various handwritten records.
Freight Forwarder's Yard in Nyaung Oo.
The man searched through his records and concluded that one parcel for the Clinic was there – the second was yet to arrive. So the one parcel was signed for and loaded into the car.
Collecting medication at the Freight Forwarder's Yard in Nyaung Oo.
Knowing my fascination with the ancient pagodas spread across the Bagan plain, Hla Win Ko asked if I'd like to stop to look at pagodas during the short journey back to the Clinic. We selected a group of minor restored pagodas without visitors allowing me to explore alone. It was not yet 10.30 a.m. but the temperature was in the mid thirties.
Pagodas of the Bagan Plain.
We were back at the Clinic in time for me to participate in the distribution of the Free Lunch to patients and their companions.
I spent the rest of the day either sitting in on Doctor Hla Tun's consultations or wandering around the site watching the various activities. I still find it hard to believe how the site has expanded since the opening of the original, modest Clinic in 2011 (described in the post here).
The original Clinic in 2011, just before the Opening Ceremony.
Bagan Medical Clinic, May 2019: The original Clinic building is now just one of a complex of buildings.
Once the Clinic was opened in 2011, local and overseas donors could see the work being done and they were encouraged to contribute towards supporting and expanding the Clinic. However, the Reception and Dispensary area of the original building remains the 'nerve centre' of the whole complex. On arrival, it's where patients register to be seen by a Doctor and, after consultation and treatment, it's where patients collect any prescribed medication.
The Reception/Dispensary Area at Bagan Medical Clinic 2019
Related posts on this website
This is one of a series of posts describing my 14th visit to Myanmar. The post Return to Burma is the first post in the series.
Clicking on the 'Next report' link displays the post describing the next events. In this way, you may read about the trip in sequence.
Next report.
Alternately, clicking on the 'All my Burma 2019 reports' link displays all the posts on this trip in reverse date-of-posting order.
All my Burma 2019 reports.
My pictures
My pictures including this part of the trip are in the album Burma 2019.
All my pictures on this trip are in the collection of albums also called Burma 2019 (apart from 'specialist' railway pictures: confusing, eh?).
[Text added, pictures added 21/24-Jun-2019]
